James Alexander Howard

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

James Alexander Howard, a solicitor at Penningtons Manches Cooper LLP, falsely complained to the Co-operative Bank that it had failed to transfer £189,000, when he had never given such an instruction and held only minimal balances. He fabricated false letters, bank statements and numerous emails purporting to be from the Bank, the Financial Ombudsman and the FCA, in order to deceive his then partner Ms Archer about his finances regarding a property purchase. The Tribunal found all seven allegations proved on the balance of probabilities, including express findings of dishonesty under the Ivey test, and breaches of Principles 2 and 6. He did not give evidence; an adverse inference was drawn. He was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay £19,700 costs.

Duties found breached:

• Integrity
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty
• Deliberate, calculated and repeated misconduct over an extended period
• Concealment of initial wrongdoing by compounding it with further wrongdoing
• Blaming others including Ms Archer and his brother when confronted
• Lack of insight into his actions

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary matters recorded
• Exemplary employment record since qualifying
• No financial benefit to himself
• Cooperated with the SRA